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Dominic Mary recently started the blog Libera Me which is well worth putting on your blogroll, aggregator, or reader. The author is a convert who says in his profile:The day I was received, a friend gave me a card which said 'Welcome Home' ! Never was a truer word spoken.

Fr Gregory Charnock of St Bartholomew Parish, Lambert's Bay, South Africa, writes to tell of a Christmas present for his Parish Church. Dave and Leslie Bashkier, with their son Paul, kindly donated, and travelled up from Cape Town specially (3 hours) on 21 December to install new permanent altar rails, to replace the temporary ones that had been in use since Summorum Pontificum.

After the installation, there were confessions, Rosary and Holy Mass. Following that, there was a traditional West Coast snoek (i.e. fish) and the blessing of the benefactors' car. They are pictured here with sacristans and Parishioners:

The altar rails were blessed the following day with some new vestments Father was given for the Christmas season.

(I feel rather envious seeing them all in summer clothes in the bright sunshine of the southern hemisphere just before Christmas.)

The Roman Forum, whose Director is Dr John Rao, is a renowned Catholic historian. I have listened with profit to several of his lectures while driving round the M25 to Wonersh or Parkminster. The website informs us that[The Roman Forum] was founded in 1968 in the wake of Humanae vitae by the great philosopher, Professor Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889-1977), whom Pope Pius XII called “the twentieth century Doctor of the Church”.It is dedicated to a systematic teaching of the True, the Good and the Beautiful and promotes the revival of Christian culture, defending "the one force that can pull all of the aspects of nature and the supernatural together", namely Catholicism.

The idea of building a minor basilica in Blackfen is catching on. One family spent part of Christmas Day constructing a scale model for the gothic option:

I was informed that the material for the walls was "structural gingerbread". Amazingly, the stained glass windows are not made of cellophane (or any modern equivalent) but of melted boiled sweets stretched into a plane. The photograph is important since, as you can imagine, the model has now been eaten. (More detailed photos at Mulier Fortis.)

Another suggestion by way of the combox, was an ingenious idea for evading planning permission. It would be a relatively minor problem to inform the Civil Aviation Authority of the Mass schedule:

Christmas Day itself I spent with my sister Mary's family - always a great day. After lunch I did actually watch television for a short while. It was an episode of "Shrek" in which the homonymous protagonist has lots of people round to his house, throws them all out, repents, searches for the "true meaning of Christmas", finds it is "everybody coming together", and then invites everybody back again. It was a truly remarkable feat in that as far as I could tell (I was not awake for the whole time, you understand) the entire programme managed to skirt around Christmas without a single reference to the nativity of Jesus Christ.

Later, we played "Scattegories" and "Balderdash": much more fun. The Wiki article says:An oft used strategy in balderdash is to elect your own fake definition in an attempt to give it credibility in the minds of your fellow players. This is referred to as a "downstream balder". You do not score a point…

Here's a nugget I noted before Christmas but did not get round to posting. I think it is worth bringing to your attention. You will remember back in November that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) upheld a complaint by Soile Lautsi, a Finnish woman with Italian citizenship, that her children had to attend a state school that displayed a crucifix in each classroom. She got an order for 5000 euro compensation to be paid by the Italian Government.

It seems that this has concentrated the minds of the Italian Constitutional Court which has issued Sentenza N.311 which states that where rulings by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) conflict with provisions of the Italian Constitution, such decrees “lack legitimacy”.

Other bloggers have picked up on this extract from Pope Benedict's sermon at the Christmas Mass:For most people, the things of God are not given priority, they do not impose themselves on us directly And so the great majority of us tend to postpone them. First we do what seems urgent here and now. In the list of priorities God is often more or less at the end. We can always deal with that later, we tend to think. The Gospel tells us: God is the highest priority. If anything in our life deserves haste without delay, then, it is God's work alone. The Rule of Saint Benedict contains this teaching: "Place nothing at all before the work of God (i.e. the divine office)". For monks, the Liturgy is the first priority. Everything else comes later. In its essence, though, this saying applies to everyone. God is important, by far the most important thing in our lives. The shepherds teach us this priority. From them we should learn not to be crushed by all the pressing matters i…

I wish all of you, dear readers, a happy and blessed Christmas. May the infant Jesus bless you and your families and loved ones.

Getting through the three Masses has been something of a battle since I have a heavy cold, but through the fog of snuffles, spluttering, and coughing, I have enjoyed the beautiful texts that the Church proposes for our meditation in the Sacred Liturgy, and our magnificent repertoire of English Christmas carols. We have been blessed with some wonderful music from the parish choir at Midnight Mass, and a scratch choir for the 9am Mass which harmonised the carols and sang Stille Nacht in German.

I'm now off to visit my sister Mary and her family in Croydon for lunch, good conversation, exchanges of gifts, and some uproarious parlour games.

Recently there was an article at Zenit by Fr Mauro Gagliardi, a consultor of the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, called Liturgical Vestments and the Vesting Prayers. The article is a fine exposition of the vesting prayers that may be said by the priest before Mass. As many bloggers picked up, Fr Gagliardi affirmed that although the maniple fell into disuse, it was never abrogated.

At the NLM, Matthew Alderman introduces a piece about this by saying:Perhaps as news this is a bit of a stretch, but a few years ago the idea that the manipulum fletus et doloris would be discussed in a remotely mainstream venue, at least complimentarily, would have seemed both outrageous and unthinkable.This reminds me of a few years ago when I served for a short time as a delegate for the National Conference of Priests (NCP). At a lunch after a Mass in the old rite (all a bit clandestine in those pre-Summorum Pontificum days) I asked the clergy whether they felt there was anyt…

Photo by Chris Light Jeffrey Tucker, Sacred Music correspondent for the New Liturgical Movement, is understandably thrilled to see that the Archabbey of St Meinrad in Indiana is making its music available in pdf form free of charge on the internet with an explicit Creative Commons licence.

If you wish to buy a printed copy of one of the books, you can do so. St Meinrad have chosen to publish their books via Lulu. There you can see that some works are still only available as e-books (with a small charge) but the monks are committed to making them all available for free download in due course as and when they are able to prepare them.

The music that St Meinrad is offering is properly liturgical music - Gregorian chant - adapted for the English texts. I know that some musicians would argue that Gregorian chant is not suited for the English language and that other styles of sacred music might be better - or some other way of adapting Gregorian chant, or something. I'm not qualified to c…

Holy Mass will offered by Fr Nicholas Schofield for the repose of the souls of David and Dora Foster at 1245 on Tuesday 29th December in the Little Oratory. David Foster was the founder of the International Summer School for Young Catholics (now renamed Christ the King Summer School). The 29th December is the first anniversary of his death. The Mass of the feast of St Thomas à Becket will be said in the Extraordinary Form.

Congratulations to Paul Fox and Katie Stone who were married today at Our Lady of the Rosary.

Although it snowed again yesterday afternoon, and the ground today was not best suited to the train of a wedding dress, Katie's bridesmaid, Alice managed very well. Fortunately, the sun was out and so the light was good for photographs. The professional photographer may send me one or two of his shots in return for a link here.

One website offering the e-book of Cornwell's "Hitler's Pope" carries this picture:The English edition of the book has this rather clearer version which demonstrates how the above one has been altered. At least this one shows that the chap wearing the peaked cap is obviously the driver; nevertheless, the juxtaposition of the title is says it all. Originally, the picture was referred to on the dust-jacket as being from 1939, "Cardinal Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, leaving the presidential palace in Berlin."

All pretty damning, no? Cardinal Pacelli, just before becoming Pope Pius XII, consorts with the Nazis and is saluted by them after visiting Hitler ... or something?

Here is the picture without blurring or additions:

It is actually from 1927. Archbishop Pacelli, then papal nuncio to Bavaria, had been to a birthday reception for Hindenberg, the President of the Weimar Republic. (Hitler did not become chancellor for another six years.) The soldiers in the …

Baronius Press have published a newly typeset edition in four volumes of St Thomas Aquinas' Catena Aurea, as translated into English by the Venerable John Henry Newman. I was very excited to receive a copy of this recently.

"Catena Aurea" means "golden chain" and the work consists of a running commentary on the four gospels, taken from the Fathers of the Church. It thus provides a sure guide to the spiritual sense of the gospels and the apostolic tradition in relation to their interpretation.

The intrinsic quality of the work is remarkable: the theological genius of St Thomas Aquinas is applied to the selection of quotations from the Fathers, and summaries of their teaching. He was commissioned to compile the commentary by Pope Urban IV. There could scarcely be a better translator than Newman, a highly competent classicist in his own right, and a master of the use of the English language.

In his preface to the 1841 edition, Newman wrote:[...] it is impossible to r…

In recent days, I have skimmed over posts on other blogs about the petition "We've Waited Long Enough" - for the new ICEL translation, that is. I mistakenly assumed that it was the same as the one I mentioned a few weeks ago. It's not, it is a different one. Here is the wording:We believe that the newly approved English translation of the 2002 Missale Romanum needs to be implemented as soon as possible.

We believe that the Church in English-speaking nations has waited far too long for an accurate, faithful translation of the original Latin.

We believe that the current translation currently in use in English-speaking nations is overdue to be replaced, as it was developed using the method of dynamic translation, a method rejected by the Vatican in the document Liturgiam Authenticam.

We stand united with the English-speaking bishops' conferences in their approval of the new translation.

Last July, as you may remember, Christians in the Indian state of Orissa were subjected to severe persecution. A 22 year old nun was burnt to death, an orphanage in Khuntpali village was burnt down by a mob, another nun was gang raped in Kandhamal, mobs attacked churches, torched vehicles, and destroyed the houses of Christians. Fr Thomas Chellen, director of the pastoral centre that was destroyed with a bomb, had a narrow escape after a Hindu mob nearly set him on fire. All together, more than 500 Christians were murdered, and thousands of others were injured.

Pope Pius XII and Pope John Paul II have had their heroic virtues confirmed, as has Mary Ward, founder of the Institute of Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Fr George Popiełuszko has had his martyrdom "propter odium fidei" confirmed, and a miracle has been confirmed as attributed to the Blessed Mary McKillop.

John Pridmore is visiting England again in the New Year. He will be speaking at Westminster Cathedral Hall on 6 January at 7.30pm. John spoke at my parish last January: his witness to the Catholic faith was compelling (see Stirring stories for a packed Church). People of all ages will find his presentation of great interest but I do recommend it especially for boys and young men. If you manage to cajole one such to go along with you, I promise you that he will not be quite so lippy on the way home.

Below are Amazon links to his two books. "From Gangland to Promised Land" would be suitable for any would-be hardnut who thinks that religion is rubbish. "The Gangster's Guide to God" is for more suitable for people who have already discovered the faith.

I'll be in Rome on 6 January so if anyone is going to John's talk, I'd be grateful for a couple of photos and a brief report - let me know if you want me to publish your name or refer to you as "a corr…

Thanks to Shawn Tribe for rooting out some fascinating Footage from British Pathe featuring various ceremonies from the time of Pope Pius XII and Blessed Pope John XXIII. There has been quite a development in papal ceremonies in response to the all-seeing eye of the camera; some of the scenes in these clips are quite chaotic although the MC seems to rule with a rod of iron.

On the clips that have commentary, you will notice that the tone is very respectful. On a more trivial note, the vintage posh English accent is amusing with its clipped vowels.

MmmmKay - as they say in some parts. I have just submitted to a nag and joined Google Wave. I have looked at some of the stuff about "Working with Waves" and am wondering how it is going to help. This is not meant to be a skeptical comment since Google have proved to be smart in developing tools that are indeed helpful: Google Mail was a breath of fresh air, for example. So if you have used Google Wave for anything, feel free to drop in a comment.

I am also seriously looking at FlockNote which provides parishes with a way to organise feeds to email, Facebook, or SMS. That attracts me because I have found that quite a number of people use SMS (mobile phone text messages) much more readily than email and it would be quite cool to allow people to choose how to receive feeds about various events. Again, if anyone is using FlockNote in their parish or organisation, I would be glad to hear how it's going.

In my post the other day on Blackfen minor basilica news, I expressed a preference for a Baroque basilica if my benefactor were to win the lottery.

Today a kind commenter has sent a couple of sketches for possible interiors for the Church.

On balance I think I prefer the second - the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Oberammergau. Here is a close-up of the sanctuary with the "Volksaltar" that could be conveniently wheeled out of the way when necessary:

H/T to Thomas Peters at American Papist for this video from a previous era of hype about "overpopulation". I cannot but agree with Thomas' observations:Never thought I'd find myself agreeing strongly with John and Yoko ...

Catch the editorial comment by the show's host? Some things never change...

I especially like Lennon's last line.The icy grip of the dictatorship of relativism has tightened since those days. It would be more difficult for a pop celebrity to express such opinions today, methinks.

In the message, the Holy Father points out that the various crises faced by the world are ultimately moral:Humanity needs a profound cultural renewal; it needs to rediscover those values which can serve as the solid basis for building a brighter future for all. Our present crises – be they economic, food-related, environmental or social – are ultimately also moral crises, and all of them are interrelated. They require us to rethink the path which we are travelling together. (n.5)He reiterates the teaching of the Church that we do not have an absolute ownership of creation but are stewards of it:Everything that exists belongs to God, who has entrusted it to man, albeit not for his arbitrary use. Once man, instead of acting as God’s co-worker, sets himself up in place of God, he ends up provoking a rebellion on the part of nature, “which is more tyrannized than gove…

The temperature has dropped in this part of the world over the past couple of days and the pond at Aylesford had chunks of ice floating on the surface today.

Aylesford, the Carmelite Priory confiscated by King Henry VIII and re-acquired by the Carmelites in 1949, was the home of St Simon Stock who received the vision of Our Lady, granting him the brown scapular which is worn, in miniature form, by Catholics all over the world. I always love to visit the Priory which is a mixture of ancient and modern buildings, the home of a community living and working in the service of the gospel.

A forty minute drive in the coach took us there from Blackfen today for a "Christmas Lunch" organised by the Union of Catholic Mothers. I know it is still Advent but these occasions are a good way for people to get together, spend a day out safely, and enjoy a good lunch in good company. I'll admit that I did doze a little on the coach on the way back but I think I was not the only one.

The other day I mentioned that one of my commenters was prepared to fund the construction of a minor basilica in Blackfen if he were to win the National Lottery. My agent has replied encouragingly as follows:Dear Fr Finigan.

Reference the National Lottery, we're on our way. I had three numbers come up, last Saturday, and won £10.

And move the bus-stop!!! "It does seem churlish to quibble but I have to say that I was thinking along the lines of a Baroque Church. Therefore, while negotiations continue, I'll encourage Keith and Steve to carry on mending the leaks in the roof of our present building. (They're doing a sterling job in freezing temperatures.)

It is that time of year again, when posts will appear on the Antiphonae Maiores, the O Antiphons for the latter part of Advent. To get you started, above is a re-post of the YouTube video of the antiphon for Vespers tomorrow.

For an original take, have a look at Singulare Ingenium: Cynewulf and the Great Antiphons where he manages to make a link between middle earth and the Sacred Liturgy.

If you want to stop the pesky babies, you can use condoms, the pill or whatever and hope that they work. If you want to stop other people from having babies (especially poor people in other parts of the world) you can fund condoms for them to offset your carbon footprint and feel really virtuous. See Pop Offsets.

A couple of years ago, there was a popular YouTube video of the transformation of an altar: La métamorphose d'un autel. Many thanks to NLM for this video of the transformation of the Church of St Ann in Charlotte, in North Carolina which might be called La Metamorphose d'une Église

A certain commenter on this blog has promised that if he wins the National Lottery, he will fund the construction of a new church in Blackfen for which I will attempt to acquire the status of a minor basilica.

Two changes were announced today in the Code of Canon law via an Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio Data, "Omnium in Mentem." (OIM) The first change concerns the nature of the diaconate. OIM clarifies that deacons do not receive the faculty of acting "in the person of Christ the Head" but the "power of serving the people of God in the service of the liturgy, the word and charity." This change has some important theological implications for the sacrament of Holy Order but that is perhaps for another day.

Bishop Dominique Rey of the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon is a remarkable man. Before entering the seminary himself, he obtained a doctorate in economics and worked at the French Ministry of Finance. As a priest in the diocese of Paris, he also worked with the Emmanuel Community. From 1986-1988, he was superior of the chaplains at Paray-le-Monial, then exercised a post of pastoral responsibility for the seminarians and priests of the Emmanuel Community. He was a parish priest in Paris for five years before being appointed to Fréjus-Toulon in 2000.

Pope John Paul II's promotion of the "new evangelisation" has always been a priority for him, something that is reflected in the fact that his diocese celebrates on its website the presence of 27 new communities in the diocese, such as the Community of St John, the Franciscans of the Immaculate, Shalom, and Points-Coeur.

He has written a book on the incompatibility between Catholic doctrine and freemasonry, and has resolutely spoken o…

Gerald Warner brings us an important report on a matter of vital moment:The news that Vision Express is to start selling single eyeglasses (vulgarly known as monocles) in its London stores is raising some eyebrows (at least, those not already arched by a lens) and is baffling style gurus who are more used to assessing trends in baseball caps and trainers. Apparently it is a youthful fashion, in which case it will not last. It may cause some perplexity among the relentless dressers-down in Cameron circles and raise fears of a wave of reactionary opinion.I have to say that my social background means that I did not even know that the single lens was called an eyeglass; but owing to the grammar school system which was still in place when I was a boy, I do at least know the word "monocle" which, for the sake of personal authenticity, is the term I shall continue to use for this accoutrement, even at the expense of seeming vulgar. As they say, "You can take the man out of Cro…

There was a presentation of the Estonian translation of Dominus Est, in the presence of Bishop Philippe Jourdan, the Apostolic Administrator of Estonia. In the book, Bishop Schneider offers a spiritual, historical and theological defence of the traditional practice of receiving Holy Communion kneeling, and on the tongue.

Bishop Schneider also celebrated a Missa Cantata in the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul in Talinn. I had the privilege of celebrating Mass there in October with the wonderful choir singing the chant with a grave Eastern interpretation that must surely have been familiar to Bishop Schneider.

Many old Romans studied Latin with Fr Reginald Foster - those who didn't, missed out. A remarkable teacher, he always inspired his students with enthusiasm and a lifelong affection for him and for Latin.

I was very pleased to read news of him in the Milwaukee Catholic Herald which tells of his stay at Clement Manor, Greenfield, where he is receiving physical and occupational therapy after a variety of medical problems. He has made a big impact on the medical staff - nobody who knows him will be surprised at that.

Popular posts from this blog

I am happy to pass on the following information concerning the forthcoming Colloquium of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend myself this time, but I pass on the notice with my support and recommendation.
Booking is now open for the Autumn Colloquium of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, which this year takes place at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, from Wednesday 15th till Thursday 16th November.

Speakers include Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, Monsignor John Armitage (Rector of the Shrine at Walsingham) and Father John Saward.

I am trying to pray the Office each day. Should I only use the official breviary or can I use the Little Office of Our Lady?
The second Vatican Council encouraged lay people to pray the Divine Office; indeed the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy encouraged parish priests to see that Vespers are celebrated in Churches on Sundays, something that is quite rare nowadays. So it is an excellent practice for you as a lay person to pray at least a part of the Office. By doing so, you unite yourself to the whole Church in the prayer which Christ offers up as our High Priest. It is rightly called a sacrifice of praise when we pray the psalms to sanctify the hours of the day.

Priests and religious are bound to celebrate the Divine Office every day and must use the Office that is approved for them. Secular priests, for example, must use either the Liturgy of the Hours (the Office that was composed after Vatican II) or the older breviary that was approved before the Council. Lay people who are no…

When I was a student in Rome, I remember going with a priest for Mass in one of the ancient Churches. The priest said that he was going to use Eucharistic Prayer II because it was the most ancient of all the prayers and was specifically Roman, composed by Hippolytus. This was the standard view at that time (early 1980s) but has since been called into question. A number of people have recently mentioned the matter to me and so here are a few notes for you.

In the 19th century, a number of ancient texts were discovered that were similar to the "Apostolic Constitutions", (of which the first modern edition was published in 1563). Among these texts was a document which came to be referred to as the “Egyptian Church Order”. In addition, the Canons of Hippolytus and the Testamentum Domini were discovered.

The scholarly consensus in the early 20th century on the dependence of these documents was that the “Egyptian Church Order” was in fact the "Apostolic Tradition" of Hippol…

Dilexit Prior in Letters from a Young Catholic asked some useful questions today about indulgences. I thought it would be best to do a post here especially to cover the controversial question of detachment from venial sin. But first the other questions:

The conditions for gaining a plenary indulgencePope Paul VI set down a number of norms relating to indulgences at the end of Indulgentiarum Doctrina. Norm 7 states:To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfil three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent. If this disposition is in any way less than complete, or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial, except for the provisions contained in n.11 for those who are “impeded.”It is worth reading the other norms because …

The first is the most fundamental. Kwasniewski rightly says that it should be engaged before examining any particular principle behind the new lectionary. It is the question of the purpose or function of reading the scriptures at Mass. As he puts it:
“Is it a moment of instruction for the people, or is it an element of the latreutic worship offered by Christ and His Mystical Body to the Most Holy Trinity.”
He affirms that what we may call the doxological purpose is primary.

This question determines any subsequent discussion of what passages are chosen, how they are distribut…